Back To Normality
by italianrory
Summary: Set from and after 3x12. Lydia is with Aiden, Stiles isn't sure how he feels about it and tells Scott about the kiss. This is my very first fanfiction, and English isn't my first language so please be gentle with me. And let me know if you want more chapters :) tags: Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin, Scott McCall, Allison Argent, Isaac Lahey. couples: St./L, St/Sc, I/A, Sc/A, L/Aid.
1. Chapter 1

"So then things looked really bad, you know, and Jennifer was in her mountain ash circle and Deucalion was on the ground, and the effects of the lunar eclipse were still wearing off, but I just felt that I could do anything, I put my hands in front of me.." Stiles really wanted to pay attention to his werewolf friend telling him the fantastic tale of how he managed to defeat the seemingly undefeatable Darach, and finally became a true alpha, but it was hard to act as excited about it when he'd already heard it every day for the past couple of weeks. Just as he was trying to nod convincingly and mumble some 'that's amazing', 'wow, man, that's awesome' in response – not that Scott would actually notice any of this, he was completely caught up in his own story – Stiles' attention slightly shifted to the couple of teenagers he and Scott were just about to pass. His eyes fixed on hers, hers more fixed to the ground, while she was trying to hide a smile, leaning against the lockers behind her. Lydia was always good at manipulating boys, her own supernatural power even before her banshee abilities were revealed; always making everybody want her, not letting them know when they actually had her, so they'd keep working for it. Such a strong power, it worked even on targets she didn't aim for. Like the Sheriff's scrawny and goofy son, for instance.

Stiles only looked at the couple for a fragment of a second, but even without his werewolf senses, Scott could've noticed how that image hurt his friend, good as he was at hiding it. He stopped in the middle of his story and looked at Lydia and Aiden for a moment, before turning back to his best friend "what was that?" "what was what?", Stiles answered nonchalantly, while stopping to open his locker. Scott stood next to him, and pointing with his eyes at the couple as subtly as he could, he insisted "_that_". Stiles gazed at them for a nanosecond and turned his eyes back on the books he was taking out and putting in the locker, keeping them there while saying "Scott, I have no idea what you're talking about" "I thought you were finally over her" this made it a little harder for Stiles to just ignore the subject. "I was. I am! I was. Look, I don't want to talk about it", he said, while closing his locker and trying to walk away. "It's just.. you haven't mentioned your plan or her perfect strawberry blonde hair in, like, a year, and I just assumed.." Scott said while following his friend. Stiles gave him a look and tried walking a little faster. "I know, I know, okay? I thought I was over her too. But that was before.." "Before what?" they were basically running at this point, which made Scott almost lose his equilibrium when Stiles suddenly stopped walking and turned to face him. "Before she kissed me. You happy now?" Stiles blurted out with an exasperated tone, before turning around again and trying to walk away.

"Woo, woo, woo, wait what?" Scott couldn't help being overly happy for his friend, he knew how long he'd been waiting for this. "It's not what you think. She was just trying to help me. She did help me." "What, like CPR or something?" Scott said, not sure himself if he was joking or being deadly serious. "Stiles, come on, stop", he insisted, grabbing his friend's shoulder. They stood in the middle of the hallway for a couple of seconds, until the sheriff's son finally sighed and looked at his friend. "Yeah.. or something. I didn't want to tell you this because well, you had a lot on your plate already, what with the two murderous supernatural creatures coming after you and us and our parents and whatnot" Scott raised his eyebrows and gave him a 'go on' look, "But I, uhm- I kind of sort of had a panic attack", he said, eyes fixed on the ground for a second before looking at his friend again. "Stiles I.. I had no idea. I am so sorry", he remembered when Stiles used to have those almost every day, at any time, in any place. It was awful. Awful for him to live and for Scott to watch without being able to help. And the thought of his best friend going through that again, and him not being there for him.. "When?" he just asked. "Few weeks back. In the midst of the parents kidnapping and all of that" Stiles tried to sound as casual as he could. Scott put a hand on his shoulder, looking him right in the eyes, "are you okay?" "Yeah. I am now, really. It was just a one time thing, I swear" Stiles reassured him, staring right back at him. "okay", said the werewolf, letting his friend go "okay", Stiles echoed.

They stood there in silence for a minute, staring at the pavement before Scott raised his head and spoke again. "So what does Lydia have to do with any of that?" "She was with me when it happened. We were in the school hallway and I just- I just lost it" "Still not sure where the kissing fits into all of this" Scott said, trying to light up the atmosphere as he started walking again, his best friend beside him. "She somehow dragged me into the locker room, and we were on the floor, and I felt like my heart was going to explode, I could barely hear her trying to calm down, or feel her hands on my cheeks which is funny because I thought when that happened I would've been completely present for it, you know, soaking it all in, making sure it was real. But I was so out of it I could barely even smell the room, which is saying a lot", Scott gave a hint of a smile "and then, out of the blue, she just kissed me" Stiles couldn't help grinning at this last part, not even on purpose. "and it was like.. there was nothing else anymore. I had all these thoughts in my head, crowding it and fighting each other and making me feel like my brain was about to explode, and that all went away." Stiles realized he was starting to sound like Scott did when he first met Allison and was kind of hating himself for it, so he just shrugged and said "so yeah, that was it. Not like it meant anything", Scott shook his head "Dude, you're so not over her".


	2. Chapter 2

"So, want to come over after school? My dad just started going back to work, which means we have the house all night, which means we have the flat screen all night. I'm thinking Star Wars marathon.." Scott gave him a very skeptical look, "seriously? I can't believe you're determined not to watch the best saga ever, but, sure, whatever you want, dwell in your ignorance. Can't blame a guy for trying" Stiles sighed, defeated, as they approached their usual table at the school cafeteria, only to realize it was already taken. They realized a little too late for them to turn around and find another one; Isaac and Allison, sitting in front of each other, already had raised their heads and were now looking at the two of them, waiting for them to say something.

"Hey" Scott offered, trying to break the ice. "Hey" Allison replied with an uncertain smile, "Hey" finished Isaac. Stiles sighed for the second time in two minutes "great, well, if we've all been properly greeted.. can we sit down with you guys?" Allison and Scott were looking at each other uncomfortably while Isaac was very busy staring at what was supposed to be pasta in his plate. "Yeah.. yeah, of course", Allison finally said, moving to let Stiles sit next to her while Scott took a seat next to Isaac. "This is so not awkward at all", Stiles said smiling, getting very disagreeing looks from all around the table. "So, you and Lydia, uh?" Isaac offered, smirking and raising his eyebrows at him, trying to change the subject and subtly getting a little revenge for Stiles' previous witty remarks, "..what?" he said, almost choking on the sandwich he was trying to eat. Scott turned to Isaac as Stiles turned to Scott with a surprised and then accusing look, "oh, come on", he said, falling back in his chair. "don't blame him. He talks in his sleep" Isaac explained, taking a bite of his dish. Allison was trying as best as she could to follow the conversation, but miserably failing "what are we talking about?" she finally asked. The three guys looked at each other. "Don't make me use my huntress training on you. You know I can make you talk" Allison added, giving the hint of a smile, but the boys didn't say a word. "So? What about Lydia?" she insisted. "She, uh.." Scott started, looking at Stiles for a sign of permission before finishing the sentence. Stiles moved his hands up in a gesture of surrender and crossed his arms snorting , so his best friend continued "she kissed Stiles", he said, smiling.

"She what?" Allison's eyes widened and Stiles couldn't help feeling a little hurt by how surprised she sounded to hear that, although he thought she was probably just shocked because Lydia didn't tell her, not because it happened. Or at least that's how Stiles chose to interpret her reaction. "Hey", someone said, as they all turned to the end of the table where Lydia was standing, tray in hands, clearly waiting to be invited to sit down. Everybody looked at her with a strange expression on their faces, before Allison slightly shook her head and smiled at her friend "Hey", "Hey" Isaac said, still eating, "Hey" Scott added with a smile, "seriously?" Stiles sighed. Lydia looked at him puzzled, raising her eyebrows, "I mean, hey", he couldn't help saying, sarcastically. "Want to sit down?" Allison asked, nodding at Stiles to move so Lydia could sit. "I thought you'd never ask" she smiled, taking the place beside Stiles. Their arms grazed as she was putting her tray down and he tried to ignore the chills that ran down his spine, as she tried to do the same. "So..", she said, looking up at the others, "what were you guys talking about?" Stiles, Scott, Allison and Isaac all turned to each other with a guilty look upon their faces, as Stiles said "Star Wars", while Isaac offered "Lacrosse" and at the same time Allison said "Summer", and Scott "you know.. stuff" which was ironically probably the best answer of all. If it had been the only one. Lydia widened her eyes "okay, then. But just so you know, there's no need to hide whatever apocalyptic new supernatural force has hit our town. It is sadly a very real and present part of my life by now" "right, right, sorry. We will definitely keep you posted on supernatural forces and things from now on" Scott replied with a smile.

"Hey" somebody said once again. "oh, for the love of G-" Stiles started, but he didn't finish his sentence as he looked up and saw the voice came from Aiden, who was standing right in front of them with his brother and Danny. Isaac and Scott looked about as happy to see him as Stiles was. "what do you want?" Scott asked, putting his serious true alpha face on. Aiden looked at Lydia "..to eat? Isn't that what you usually do in the cafeteria?" Scott's eyes turned red for an instant; he was having some trouble handling his werewolf powers ever since his 'upgrade' "I'm sorry but there are only two seats left, and there's three of you" he growled "It's okay, buddy, I'm not that hungry anyway" Stiles said, trying to calm his best friend down as he got up and took his tray with him to make space for the new comers. Scott took his eyes off of Aiden and looked at Stiles a bit worried. Lydia followed him with her eyes as well, as he got up and left the table. She was still looking at him when he turned back to look at his friends; their eyes met for a second before he walked out the door to go eat his lunch somewhere else. Scott quickly got up and followed his friend out the door. They walked next to each other quietly until Stiles broke the silence "you know I know you don't talk in your sleep, right?", they both turned to face each other and laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as he came back from school, Stiles dropped his backpack on the floor, savaged his fridge and closed himself in his room with no intention of leaving it for at least a few hours. He knew this transition period (as he liked to call the days when no immediate menace was threatening his life or that of his friends) wouldn't last forever and any kind of ugly beast could turn up at any moment, but he was determined to enjoy his time off, however short that may be. Which was exactly what he was doing, lying on his bed with a comic-book, about three cans of pepsi and enough Reeses and potato chips to last him a week, when a loud knock on the door interrupted him. He didn't even flinch "Dad, I'm studying.." he paused for a second; that certainly hadn't stopped his dad from barging in before "..naked". Stiles was sure this would persuade his father to leave him alone for a while, but after a few moments of silence he heard another knock on the door, a bit more soft and unsure. He rolled his eyes and sighed while getting up to go open the door, "dad, what the he- " "Hi. You're dressed. Good. Might've been a bit awkward otherwise" Lydia said very calmly, while Stiles was trying to think of what sort of catastrophe could've brought her to his house. The last and only time she was there, her lizard boyfriend had supposedly died after trying to kill everybody at the only school game where he ever scored any points, and he had to give her a ride so he could witness them getting back together after her love brought Jackson back to life. With a key. All of this led Stiles to have very mixed feelings about Lydia standing in front of him right now.

"Yeah, uh, that was just.. my dad, he.." she looked very perplexed and kind of preoccupied as to where he was going with this, and since he didn't know where he was going either, he decided to just drop it. "what are you doing here?", he asked. He didn't mean to sound rude, but Lydia was taken aback by his tone, "Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you.." she said, turning around to leave "No, I'm sorry. I just mean.. is everything okay?" Lydia turned back and gave him a reassuring smile "everything's fine, I just.. can I come in?" "sure, right, yeah, of course, sorry" he said, as he opened the door wide to let her in and quickly cleaned up his room as well as he could. He sat on his bed as she sat next to him without saying a word. He took a pack of Reese's he had on his night table and offered her one. "Thanks", she said. They sat there in silence for a while before they spoke "Stiles-" "Lydia, I-" they both smiled and looked at the ground. "Sorry. Ladies first" Stiles said, moving his hand in the air to tell her to go on "I just wanted to see you. I mean, I have seen you at school but we haven't spoken since.." their eyes met for a second before he turned back to staring at his feet "..everything. I wanted to make sure things were good. You know, between us" "Of course they're good. They're great. Never been better" which, Stiles had to admit, wasn't at all incorrect; considering until a few months ago she had never acknowledged his existence or spoken to him for more than five seconds in a row, things were actually better than they had ever been between them.

Lydia took a long breath before turning her bust in Stiles' direction so she could look him in the eyes "Look, Stiles, I know we've never really been friends, but.. we are now", he turned his head up and looked at her, "after all the crazy supernatural near-death experiences we shared.. I don't want you to think that because those ended" Stiles raised his eyebrows at her "okay,_ temporarily_ ended" she added, rolling her eyes, "I don't want you to think that we're just not friends anymore". Stiles didn't know what to say, which was not something he was used to; then again, he was when Lydia Martin was involved. It was just so strange, still so surreal, Lydia being there, in his room, asking him to be friends with her. He had kind of wondered about it, what their relationship was, and he had concluded that they were allowed to speak to each other about life-threatening monsters but so soon as that ended, so would their improbable partnership. Looking at her now though, he realized he had always seen Lydia as this beautiful, independent, sometimes borderline evil teenage queen who had everything she could ever want, but only in this moment he saw how broken and lonely she must've felt with everything that happened to her. Stiles smiled at her, still looking her in the eyes "No, of course we are. Thanks" thanks? He was thanking her. Thanking her for letting him be a part of her life. Not pathetic at all. Lydia just laughed and smiled back at him, "I have to go now", she said. They both got up and Stiles walked her to the front door. "So I guess I'll see you at school?" she asked "see you at school" he replied, standing on the doorstep to watch her go, as she smiled at him one last time before turning around completely and walking to her car. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it after seeing her car drive away from the window.


End file.
